Determination of beta-choriogonadotropin in human plasma; evaluation and comparison of five "kit" methods.

We evaluated five quantitative, commercially available radioimmunoassay methods (Beta-Tec, BIO-RIA, Cambridge Nuclear, Mallinckrodt, and Serono) for rapid determination of the beta-subunit of human choriogonadotropin in serum or plasma. Only three of the kits (Beta-Tec, Mallinckrodt, and Serono) were found suitable for reliable determination of low concentrations of this analyte, which is of importance in the early diagnosis of trophoblastic disease in men and monitoring effectiveness of chemotherapy of trophoblastic tumors in men and women.